GHV girls drop two TIC match-ups

The Garner-Hayfield-Ventura girls dropped two Top of Iowa Conference match-ups last week, moving their record to 1-3 in the West Division.  The Cardinals are in a three-way tie for sixth place with Eagle Grove and Belmond-Klemme.

West Hancock 68, GHV 35

It was a tough night on the road when the GHV girls faced West Hancock on Tuesday, Dec. 8.  The undefeated Eagles handed the Cardinals a 68-35 loss.  Turnovers played a major part of GHV’s loss, with West Hancock scoring 45-points off 36 Cardinal turnovers, most on breakaway layups.

“I was very disappointed in our effort in this game,” said Coach Matt Erpelding.  “When we took our time and saw the floor we would get layups, but more times than not we made poor decisions with the basketball.”

The Eagles opened the game with back-to-back threes to take the lead early, 10-2.  West Hancock didn’t let up, as they closed the first quarter with a score of 27-11.

GHV did have a six-point run in the second quarter behind some strong free-throw shooting, but the Eagles followed that with an 11-point unanswered run for a half time score of 49-27.

West Hancock outscored the Cardinals, 16-5 in the third quarter, 65-32.  There was not much scoring on either end of the court in the fourth quarter, with the final being 68-35.

Jillian Heitland led the Cardinals with 13-points.  Hannah Lau added seven, while Jade Hanson and Mallory Johnson had four points each.

Heitland and Lau led under the boards with seven rebounds each.  Payton Bamrick pulled down five.

Taryn Carolus had three blocked shots to go with her two assists and one steal.

Miranda Jackson led the team in assists with three.

Belmond-Klemme 57, GHV 41

The Cardinals had to play Belmond-Klemme on Friday, Dec. 11, without one of their top players.  Hannah Lau was out of the line-up with a concussion.

“We had no answer for the size of their two best players without Hannah,” said Coach Matt Erpelding.  “We did an okay job guarding them in the initial offensive set, but we simply refused to box them out, allowing them to get numerous second chance points.”

The Cardinals were outscored 29-19 in the first half.

GHV got down by as many as 15-points in the third quarter, 40-25, before they went on a six-point run to close the third quarter with a score of 42-31.  The Broncos outscored the Cardinals 15-8 in the fourth quarter for the final, 57-41.

“I am still trying to find the right combination of girls for us to have the most success on both ends of the floor.  We need to cut our turnovers down drastically and find a group that shares the basketball as needed to have success offensively,” said Erpelding.

Jillian Heitland had nine points for GHV, followed closely by Mikaya Shropshire and Taryn Carolus with seven points apiece.  Maddie Williams contributed six, Mara Anderson had five points and Jade Hanson and Miranda Jackson had four and three points respectively.

There was also balanced rebounding, with Williams and Hanson grabbing five rebounds apiece, while Heitland had four.

Shropshire and Williams had three steals apiece.  Jackson led the team in assists with three.

The girls are home on Friday, Dec. 18, when they face Lake Mills.  Game time is 6:15 p.m.